Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what her Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

David Jones: The Wales Office's carbon emissions for the period requested is given in the table.
	The figures reflect that my Department is small, and so some events can have a disproportionately large impact on the level of carbon emissions that would be more easily absorbed by a larger Department. Most of the Department's emissions are derived from electricity consumption and from travel, and to compensate for the impact, electricity is obtained from a supplier using renewable sources, and emissions from official cars are offset.
	
		
			  Total CO 2  emissions (tonnes) 
			 2010-11 70.8 
			 2011-12 77.8

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Owen Paterson: My Department has taken the following steps to reduce carbon emissions:
	(a) 2010: reduced office accommodation in London which enabled CO2 savings on heating; a bio-mass heating system and solar panels were introduced at Hillsborough Castle; use of bottled water ceased; and private jet replaced by commercial flights.
	(b) 2011: additional video conference facilities were introduced in order to reduce the need for travel; and further reduction in accommodation in London.
	(c) 2012: co-location of core Departmental staff at a single site in Belfast thereby reducing the need for travel.

Complaints

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: No complaints about the work of my Department were received during 2010-11 or 2011-12.
	My Department has two non-departmental public bodies—the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland. Both public bodies are independent of Government and the hon. Gentleman may wish to write to the Commissions directly on these matters.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

David Mundell: A wide range of measures have been taken in order to achieve significant CO2 emissions savings in the Scotland Office. These included ensuring central heating is switched off, as well as electrical appliances, when rooms are vacated (2010), the installation of a more energy efficient gas boiler (2011) and of Point of Use heaters for hot tap water (2012).

Deportation: Offenders

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national offenders from European Economic Area countries have been deported from the UK in each of the last five years; and what the nationality was of each such offender in each such year.

Damian Green: holding answer 22 May 2012
	In 2010-11, 5,339 foreign national offenders were removed or deported from the UK. It is our policy not to disclose the countries to which we remove or deport foreign national offenders as this could jeopardise our diplomatic relations. Data from before 2010 is not held centrally.

Deportation: Offenders

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to seek the revision of the European Council Directive on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states (2004/38/EC) so that foreign national offenders from European Economic Area (EEA) countries can be deported from the UK in accordance with the arrangements for deporting foreign national offenders from countries outside of the EEA.

Damian Green: holding answer 22 May 2012
	The Government supports the principle of free movement for citizens of EU member states, including our own, and recognises the many benefits that it brings. However we have repeatedly urged the EU to ensure that such rights are not open to abuse, whether by illegal migrants or by criminals. The Government will continue to bring its concerns to the attention of the Commission and other member states at meetings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council and in the context of the Commission's intended review of the implementation of the directive.

Domestic Violence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to page 7 of her Department's document, Call to End Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG): Action Plan, what timetable she has set for introducing in the British Crime Survey (BCS) new questions on attitudes towards VAWG; what response she has received from the BCS to the questions developed and put forward for inclusion; who was consulted on the formulation of the questions; if she will place in the Library a copy of these questions; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: Questions about attitudes to domestic violence have been included in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW, formerly the British Crime Survey) since April 2011. Results from the first 12 months of interviews will be available for publication after the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) first release of crime statistics in July 2012. These questions were developed by the survey contractor and subject to testing with members of the public before they were introduced to the survey.
	Responsibility for the publication of crime statistics now rests with the ONS and they will give consideration to when and how such data will be published in their reporting.
	CSEW data will be made available to the public for further analysis in due course.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials are involved in administering the National Referral Mechanism for suspected victims of trafficking; and in what parts of the country these officials are based.

Damian Green: Under the National Referral Mechanism decisions about who is a victim of trafficking can only be made by trained specialists. The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC), part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and the UK Border Agency are the only designated 'Competent Authorities' able to perform this role. Seven staff located within the UKHTC in Birmingham—including five SOCA officers and two staff seconded from the UK Border Agency—undertake this role on a full time basis. In addition approximately 120 trained staff within the UK Border Agency who are located across the United Kingdom undertake this role alongside other duties.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what cost was incurred by the (a) UK Border Agency and (b) UK Human Trafficking Centre in administering the National Referral Mechanism for suspected victims of trafficking in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: Funds have not been specifically allocated to administering the National Referral Mechanism and work has been absorbed within business as usual running costs by the UK Border Agency and the UK Human Trafficking Centre, part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Details of the annual accounts of the UK Border Agency and Serious Organised Crime Agency can be found using the following links:
	UK Border Agency
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/
	Serious and Organised Crime Agency
	http://www.soca.gov.uk/about-soca/library

Illegal Immigrants: Deportation

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to increase the number of illegal immigrants who are successfully removed.

Damian Green: We prefer that people leave the UK voluntarily. However if this option is refused then we will enforce removal including arresting and detaining those who refuse to comply.
	We plan to increase the volume of removals this year by building better processes and performance management for our enforcement teams; improving our contact management procedures; developing the hostile environment in the UK so that it is increasingly difficult for illegal migrants to access public services prior to their arrest; delivering commercial solutions for increasing removals; and improving our management information on those individuals who leave the UK voluntarily.

Immigration Controls

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many customs officers she estimates have been asked to staff passport controls at London airports in the last two months; and what estimate she has made of the likely number of such customs officers who will staff such controls up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Damian Green: Border Force staff cover both immigration and customs work. Officers are trained to deal with both types of work. Border Force ensures that staff are deployed to meet the highest risks, whether this is to deal with passengers at the primary control point or elsewhere, including customs activity.
	During the Olympics, Border Force is deploying additional staff to London airports. Heathrow is the designated Olympics airport; additional staff will be deployed to ensure that all desks are open at peak times throughout the day.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: No public sector mutuals have been created or spun off from the Home Office.
	The coalition Government is committed to supporting the creation and growth of public service mutuals, including giving public sector employees new rights to bid for or request to take over the services that they are delivering.

Victim Support Schemes

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations she has received from Victim Support regarding changes to the commissioning of victim and witness support services.

Lynne Featherstone: I have only responded to two direct representations from Victim Support highlighting concerns about the proposal for local commissioning included in the “Getting it right for victims and witnesses” consultation. To ensure that there is an accurate consideration of all views received in response to the consultation paper, it was agreed that the Secretary of State for Justice as the lead on victims' issues should deal with other representations. I understand that his officials have so far received approximately 60 constituent representations from Victim Support. The Government is determined to ensure that available funding is better targeted to those victims most in need of support and that a wider range of service providers is available. We believe this will be best achieved through a mixture of local and national commissioning and that Police and Crime Commissioners are best placed to be able to commission victims' services at a local level.

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many letters and emails his Office has received calling for the creation of an elected House of Lords in the last 12 months.

Mark Harper: The Government has received more than two thousand representations since the publication of its White Paper and draft House of Lords Reform Bill in May last year. A detailed breakdown of the correspondence on House of Lords reform has not been undertaken but the majority are concerned with the question of reserved places for Church of England Bishops in a reformed House of Lords.

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the costs of a single question public referendum on reform of the House of Lords; and what estimate he has made of the cost of a referendum on reform of the House of Lords held on the same day as a general election.

Mark Harper: The Government has made no estimate of the costs of a referendum on reform of the House of Lords.

House of Lords: Reform

Simon Hart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the potential cost of elections to a wholly or part-elected House of Lords.

Mark Harper: The costs of elections to a reformed House of Lords will depend on a number of variables. In particular, the electoral system used and the degree of combination with other electoral events will affect the costs. The Government is currently considering the report of the Joint Committee on the Government's draft Bill before finalising proposals for reform. We will publish full cost estimates when we introduce a Bill.

Portcullis House

Frank Field: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission for what reason the Despatch Box in Portcullis House is not stocked with its usual range of gifts and souvenirs; what policy has been set on the stocking of such gifts and souvenirs in the Despatch Box; and whether that policy has changed since the opening of Portcullis House.

John Thurso: The Commission has not set a formal policy on the stocking of souvenirs in the Despatch Box. Responsibility for souvenir stocking is delegated to the Catering and Retail Service.
	A small range of House of Commons souvenirs has been on sale from the Despatch Box since shortly after it opened in 2001-02. The range of souvenirs has been reviewed regularly in response to changing tastes and seasonal demands. The recent reduction in the range available from the Despatch Box reflects sales trends. Stocking a smaller range of souvenirs will also help to reduce queuing times (an issue of concern to many users) for its primary business activity, which is serving hot drinks and light refreshments. A full range of souvenirs continues to be available at other outlets.
	The Director General of Facilities would be happy to discuss this matter further with the hon. Gentleman.

Energy: Housing

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to Priority 1, Impact Indicator 1 on page 26 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11, how the Green Deal and energy company obligation will promote the installation of loft insulation of at least 125 mm in households.

Gregory Barker: DECC's analysis shows that the majority of lofts in Great Britain have already been filled to at least 125 mm. The remaining potential is predominantly loft “top-ups”.
	The Green Deal and the energy company obligation (ECO) will provide significant opportunities for, loft insulation. Households may choose to treat their lofts under the Green Deal on a stand-alone basis or as part of a package of measures. In addition, ECO will be available to provide subsidy for loft insulation in many circumstances, for example for qualifying vulnerable households; for homes in low income areas; and for loft installations which take place alongside other specified measures such as solid wall insulation.

Fuel Oil: West Midlands

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the average household expenditure on heating fuel bills in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands.

Charles Hendry: The most recent data available are for 2011. In this year, we estimate that the average electricity and gas bill in the west midlands was £1,102. This is based on a national average of actual gas and electricity consumption in 2011 of 3,932 kWh for standard electricity, and 13,680 kWh for gas. These consumption levels were lower than usual due to the unusually warm weather in 2011.
	We are not able to separately estimate this figure for Coventry.

Heysham Power Stations

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects the building of Heysham's new power station to be completed; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: As set out in the 2011 Nuclear National Policy Statement, Heysham is one of the sites considered by the Government as suitable for future nuclear power stations. The construction of any new nuclear power station at Heysham is, however, a commercial matter and there are currently no-active plans by industry to begin any time soon.
	It is in the UK's interest that lead sites continue to have the potential to be developed. Government remains firmly committed to its efforts to ensure that the conditions are right for investment in new nuclear power in the UK.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department has not created or spun off any new public sector mutuals over the period 2010-12.
	I support the idea of the public sector working closely with the voluntary sector where such schemes are able to provide the value to the taxpayer.

Bed and Breakfast Accommodation

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  which local authorities have housed families in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of families who have stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the percentage change in the number of families who have stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks year-to-year over the last five years;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of using bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless households in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Grant Shapps: The vast majority of local authorities have no families in bed and breakfast accommodation over six weeks, and the numbers of households with children in bed and breakfast accommodation remain at historically low levels. However, I am concerned that a small number of authorities are placing families in bed and breakfast accommodation beyond the six week limit.
	I have written to 20 local authorities who between them account for almost 80% of families in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks, reiterating the Government's position that this practice is unacceptable, urging them to prioritise elimination of the use of long term bed and breakfast accommodation for families, and offering support from my Department to do so.
	The Government has increased levels of funding on homelessness, and has announced an additional £70 million investment over the last year. We are introducing changes through the Localism Act which will give local authorities increased flexibility to use the private rented sector to meet their homelessness duties, and reduce the need for them to place any families in bed and breakfast accommodation.
	A table has been placed in the Library of the House. This shows the number of households with dependant children and/or pregnant woman with no other dependants that had been in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks in the last 12 months at local authority level. It also shows the number of households in that category which had been accommodated pending a review or appeal.
	The following table shows, for the last five years, the England totals of households in temporary accommodation with dependent children and/or pregnant woman in bed and breakfast accommodation which had been resident for six weeks or more at the end of each quarter. Some of the households included in the table had been accommodated pending a review of appeal, rather than in the exercise of a duty.
	
		
			  March June September as at end December 
			 2007 80 100 130 120 
			 2008 160 180 160 100 
			 2009 70 80 130 120 
			 2010 100 160 140 150 
			 2011 200 240 400 450 
			 Note: Numbers of households are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Quarterly PIE returns 
		
	
	Statistical releases on statutory homelessness are available both in the Library of the House and via the DCLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness/
	Outturn information on local authority expenditure on bed and breakfast accommodation for 2011-12 will be published in November 2012. This level of detailed information is not available for budget estimates.

Building Regulations

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement of building regulations.

Andrew Stunell: The Department set out its views on the current enforcement provisions for the Building Regulations along with proposals for changes which would make the arrangements more effective in a consultation document “2012 consultation on changes to the Building Regulations in England: Section four—the building control system” which is available at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/brconsultationsection4
	The consultation closed on 27 April 2012 and the Department is currently preparing a summary and analysis of the responses which will be published later in the year. Decisions on how to take the proposed changes forward will be made in the light of the responses received.

Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by his Department since May 2010 
	(1)  who was previously employed in any capacity by the (i) Conservative Party or its elected representatives and (ii) Liberal Democrat Party or its elected representatives; and whether their position was advertised publicly;
	(2)  who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative Party and (ii) Liberal Democrat Party; and whether their position was advertised publicly.

Bob Neill: To collect any such information would require a search of all HR records which would involve disproportionate costs.

Non-domestic Rates

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses in (a) England, (b) the south-west and (c) Newton Abbot constituency qualify for small business rate relief.

Bob Neill: The number of hereditaments in receipt of small business rate relief as at 31 December 2010 in England, the south-west and Teignbridge local authority are shown in the following table. Data on the number of businesses who qualify for small business rate relief are not centrally collected. The data are also not available at constituency level but businesses in Newton Abbot constituency will form part of the total for Teignbridge local authority.
	
		
			  Number of businesses in receipt of small business rate relief as at 31 December 2010 
			 England 460,000 
			 South West 61,026 
			 Teignbridge local authority 1,875 
		
	
	The data are taken from the National Non-Domestic Rates 1 (NNDR1) Supplementary forms completed annually by billing authorities in England and returned to the Department of Communities and Local Government. The data are publicly available in tables in the Statistics section of the DCLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/nondomesticrates201112f
	Reforms in the Localism Act will make it easier for small firms to claim the small business rate relief to which they are entitled.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: My Department has not created or spun-off any new public sector mutuals in 2010-11 or 2011-12. The Government has committed that every Department will put in place Rights to Provide for public sector workers to take over the running of services and DCLG is working towards this.

Social Rented Housing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home swaps have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct Scheme in (a) Mid-Dorset and North Poole constituency and (b) England.

Grant Shapps: “HomeSwap” Direct was launched in October 2011 to allow social tenants who wish to move through a mutual exchange to see details of all possible properties nationwide. The scheme has operated very successfully since its launch, with tenants carrying out over 1 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct.
	Details of the number of moves that have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct Scheme in (a) Mid-Dorset and North Poole constituency and (b) England are not held centrally.

Social Rented Housing

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers local authorities have to determine the bands into which those waiting for housing should be placed.

Grant Shapps: The Localism Act maintains the statutory reasonable preference requirements in the allocation legislation which are designed to ensure that overall priority for social housing is given to those who need it most.
	Otherwise, it is for local authorities to decide on what principles their allocation scheme is framed, including whether to prioritise housing applicants into bands, and which bands to place them in.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time; and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12;
	(2)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse;
	(3)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12.

Bob Neill: The following tables set out the number of trade union representatives in the Department for Communities and Local Government and its non-departmental bodies and facility time and cost details.
	Number of representatives
	
		
			 Number of trade union representatives 
			  Full-time Part-time 
			 Department for Communities and Local Government 2 11 
			 Homes and Communities Agency — 12 
			 Fire Service College — 10 
			 Planning Inspectorate (PINS) — 27 
			 Local Government Ombudsman — 5 
			 Audit Commission — 7 
			 Independent Housing Ombudsman Ltd — 2 
			 Valuation Tribunal Service — 2 
			 Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Valuation Tribunal for England, Building Regulations Advisory Committee, Architects Registration Board, West Northants Development Corporation, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and the Leasehold Advisory Service (1)— (1)— 
			 (1) No trade union representatives 
		
	
	Facility time details and costs
	
		
			 Department for Communities and Local Government 
			 Trade union representative Trade union duties Trade union activities Day total /£ 
			 1 (full-time) 208 7 215 
			 2 (full-time) 211 4 215 
			 3 30 23.5 53.5 
			 4 61 24 85 
			 5 12 8.5 20.5 
			 6 3 3 6 
			 7 2.25 8.5 10.75 
			 8 4 3.25 7.25 
			 9 1.25 1.25 2.5 
			 10 0 17.75 17.75 
			 11 1.5 0.5 2 
			 12 4 2 6 
			 13 6 0 6 
			 Total days   647.25 
			     
			 Total cost   £140,687 
		
	
	Non-departmental bodies
	
		
			 Valuation Tribunal Service 
			 Trade union representative Days /£ 
			 1 3 
			 2 2 
			 Total days (1)5 
		
	
	
		
			   
			 Total cost £1,834.84 
			 (1) All for trade union activities 
		
	
	
		
			 The Audit Commission 
			 Trade union representative Days /£ 
			 1 162.9 
			 2 143.3 
			 3 31.3 
			 4 19.7 
			 5 9.2 
			 6 4.6 
			 7 4.5 
			 Total days 275.5 
			   
			 Total cost £116,984.75 
		
	
	The Audit Commission does not collect records regarding the amount of time spent by each trade union representative on trade union duties and activities in 2011-12.
	
		
			  Total days Total cost (£) 
			 Homes and Communities Agency 74 37,000 
			 Planning Inspectorate 628.8 119,889 
		
	
	The Homes and Communities Agency and the Planning Inspectorate do not collect records regarding the amount of time spent by each trade union representative, including details trade union duties and activities in 2011-12.
	The Local Government Ombudsman, the Independent Housing Ombudsman Ltd and the Fire Service College do not collect facility time or cost information on their trade union representatives.
	The Government have announced their intention to commence a consultation shortly with the civil service trade unions on limiting the amount of paid time civil servants can spend on trade union duties and activities, and ending the practice of having civil servants engaged full-time in trade union representative roles.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his Department's total level of carbon emissions was between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012;
	(2)  what steps his Department took to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Simon Burns: The Department (including NHS Connecting for Health) has introduced a number of measures to reduce its carbon emissions. These include:
	(a) 2010
	Introduction of more energy efficient computers
	Decommissioning of information technology (IT) servers
	Upgrading ventilation and air conditioning units
	Upgrade of lighting
	(b) 2011
	Upgrade of Building Management Systems
	Improved control of air handling units
	Shutting down heating earlier
	(c) 2012
	Introduction of LED lighting
	Consideration of using air blades systems
	Pump upgrades
	Other measures that the Department and NHS Connecting for Health have introduced over the period include:
	Reduction of fleet emissions;
	Use of secondary metering to monitor server rooms;
	Introduction of a managed print service; and
	Automatic switch off of all IT equipment and moving to the Closed Loop framework contract for recycling of waste paper. NHS Connecting for Health already use this framework.
	The Departments gross carbon emissions for energy and travel for 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2011 were 10,653 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission and from 2 April 2011 to 1 April 2012 were an estimated 9,324 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Clinical Psychologists: Prison Service

Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) chartered psychologists, (b) trainee psychologists and (c) psychological assistants have been employed by the Prison Service in the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
	Information on the number of (a) chartered psychologists, (b) trainee psychologists and (c) psychological assistants employed within the Prison Service over the last five years is contained in the following table. Psychologists engaged on a sessional basis are not included. Information on private sector establishments has been provided by individual contractors.
	
		
			 Psychologists employed in the public sector Prison Service, 31 March 2008 to 2012 
			 Grade 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Psychologists(1) 344 332 274 267 251 
			 Trainee Psychologist 317 312 331 328 307 
			 Psychological Assistant 401 373 372 425 420 
			 Total 1,062 1,017 977 1,020 978 
			 (1) The HR database does not record which psychologists are chartered, information is provided for psychologists in manager grades E to G and senior manager grades A to D. 
		
	
	
		
			 Psychologists employed in contracted establishments, 31 March 2008 to 2012 
			 Grade 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Psychologist(1) 10 8 10 11 10 
			 Trainee 23 30 30 27 24 
			 Assistant 16 13 12 25 19 
			 Total 49 51 52 63 53 
			 (1) It is not recorded by every contractor whether the psychologists are chartered.

Eyesight: Testing

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people over the age of 60 received a free eye test in each of the last three years.

Simon Burns: The following table shows the number of national health service sight tests for persons aged 60 and over, in England from 1999-2000 to 2010-11. This information has been extracted from the report, “General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England, Year ending 31 March 2011”. This report is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gosactivity1011
	Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60, with glaucoma, is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Patients may also have had more than one sight test in the specified time period.
	
		
			 Annex C, Table A1 :  NHS sight tests, by patient eligibility, in England, as at the specified financial years 
			  1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999 - 2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002- 03 2003-04 
			 Aged 60 and over 0 0 0 3,301,412 3,753,315 4,012,946 4,135,615 4,308,889 
			 Children 0-15 2,353,696 2,385,520 2,458,944 2,425,666 2,404,037 2,374,943 2,284,368 2,236,329 
			 Students 16-18 515,321 507,983 477,013 468,221 454,319 487,882 468,735 456,614 
			 Adults receiving income support(1) 1,905,505 1,975,057 1,781,740 1,359,767 1,158,854 1,082,048 963,281 953,325 
			 Adults receiving tax credits 358,073 335,711 341,887 328,471 360,033 450,475 412,478 474,541 
			 Adults receiving JSA(2) 28,983 66,068 176,562 219,654 211,827 230,050 207,703 201,487 
			 Low income certificate holders (HC2) 331,134 316,700 301,784 226,694 189,899 164,262 166,784 149,033 
			 Registered blind/partially sighted 36,380 40,810 40,914 21,783 19,604 18,948 17,850 19,834 
			 Diabetics/Glaucoma sufferers 604,841 644,345 685,107 469,375 451,601 432,819 448,147 474,385 
			 Need complex lenses 84,409 86,276 80,498 66,029 67,462 61,129 66,268 71,418 
		
	
	
		
			 Close relatives 40 and over of Glaucoma sufferers 589,347 632,740 647,857 512,341 496,182 491,898 490,820 499,404 
			 Prisoner on Leave n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Unallocated 22 45 28 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 6,807,711 6,991,255 6,992,334 9,399,416 9,567,135 9,807,403 9,662,052 9,845,259 
		
	
	
		
			  2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Aged 60 and over 4,303,128 4,450,007 4,518,672 4,860,912 5,015,536 5,191,773 5,305,177 
			 Children 0-15 2,206,853 2,168,542 2,113,479 2,299,159 2,313,500 2,460,089 2,449,831 
			 Students 16-18 463,568 467,487 490,762 507,918 516,837 528,512 543,199 
			 Adults receiving income support(1) 1,091,019 1,085,424 1,170,055 1,119,650 1,107,692 1,085,346 1,085,496 
			 Adults receiving tax credits 528,409 538,779 569,833 660,736 675,514 689,091 696,757 
			 Adults receiving JSA(2) 195,783 218,689 236,126 225,782 239,556 313,205 309,283 
			 Low income certificate holders (HC2) 152,534 142,796 133, S80 127,542 119,667 104,549 91,599 
			 Registered blind/partially sighted 22,227 22,304 28,431 18,764 21,275 21,929 14,385 
			 Diabetics/Glaucoma sufferers 589,465 646,628 597,773 591,954 605,302 708,631 723,921 
			 Need complex lenses 72,312 70,295 86,816 82,476 75,122 62,732 73,297 
			 Close relatives 40 and over of Glaucoma sufferers 523,680 543,605 539,345 552,997 588,114 644,244 644,450 
			 Prisoner on Leave n/a n/a n/a n/a 360 1,550 1,134 
			 Unallocated 0 122 50 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 10,148,978 10,354,682 10,484,922 11,047,890 11,278,474 11,811,651 11,938,529 
			 n/a = Not applicable. Prisoner on Leave was introduced in October 2008. (1) Income support includes patients receiving pension credit guarantee credit as well as income-related employment and support allowance, which was Introduced in October 2008. (2) Job seeker’s allowance. Notes: 1. From 1 April 1999, eligibility for an NHS sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over. 2. Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60, with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

General Practitioners: Pay

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost to the public purse was of the Quality Outcomes Framework bonus system paid to GPs in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Quality and Outcomes Framework is a voluntary incentive scheme for general practitioner practices to implement evidence-based standards that improve the quality of care delivered to patients. Audited expenditure from primary care trust financial returns in England for the last five years is shown as follows:
	
		
			  £ billion 
			 2006-07 1.040 
			 2007-08 1.062 
			 2008-09 1.068 
			 2009-10 1.080 
			 2010-11 1.096

Mental Health Services: Veterans

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidance to clinical commissioning groups on how to support the mental health needs of former service personnel.

Simon Burns: The exact procedures which the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), and the rest of the ministerial team will use to communicate their wishes to the clinical commissioning groups have not been defined as yet. However, commissioning for military health and veterans-related services and the way in which this will work is a priority for both the Ministry of Defence and the Department—monthly meetings of the commissioning sub-group take place to work through related issues.
	Under current arrangements, the Secretary of State does not issue guidance directly to the primary care trusts (PCTs). The NHS Operating Framework is published every year which guides the strategic health authorities (SHAs) as to the key areas on which they need to focus their attentions in that time period, and this filters down to PCT level. Additionally, the Department has established 10 Armed Forces Networks—one in each of the ‘old’ SHA areas. The networks have a direct impact on work carried out regionally as they work closely with general practitioners, providers, and commissioners in each local area to ensure that services for veterans are developed and resource in the most effective way possible. Funding is also allocated to each network from the centre and filtered down via the networks for use on veterans' mental health projects. All funding approved by the Department is for clinically evidenced National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence-approved services. The Department is currently putting in place a mental health clinical advisory group to provide additional support in this area.

Mental Health Services: Veterans

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the treatment pathway and services to support former service personnel with mental health problems.

Simon Burns: This Government has put a great deal of work into improving mental health services for veterans. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) published his ‘Fighting Fit’ report into the mental health and wellbeing of serving personnel and veterans in October 2010. The report contained a number of recommendations for the improvement of mental health services for this group, and these are in the process of being implemented, within a £7.2 million budget which was assigned to the area shortly after the report was released. Dr Murrison recommended an uplift in the number of community veterans' mental health workers in each region. Following the publication of the report the Department consulted with its 10 Armed Forces Networks as to how this should be implemented in order to add value to the existing arrangements in each area. In order to do this, treatment pathways and service availability were assessed in each region, which then came up with proposals for new services. These were sent to the Department for scrutiny. The result of this was that integrated veterans' mental health services are now up and running in the majority of the network areas, with the remainder to follow by the end of the calendar year. All services and treatments approved by the Department and which make use of departmental funds are clinically evidenced and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence-approved.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting.

Simon Burns: For the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the total block of time for industrial relations and trade union activities duties is agreed centrally between human resources (HR) and the Departmental Trade Unions. This is called Facility Time and is granted at three levels:
	Accredited representatives who work ‘full time’ on industrial relations duties (100%)—these are funded directly by a budget held centrally by HR;
	Accredited representatives who spend significant time on industrial relations (less than 100%—5%) funded by local business area and the central budget reimburses for time spent; and
	Accredited representatives who spend limited time on industrial relations (less than 5%), normally Branch Executive Committee members of floor stewards, granted reasonable time for these duties—but not met centrally or counted towards the total time referred above. As minimal, this is met by local business areas.
	We do not hold records of every meeting in a way that identifies business as set out in the four categories outlined in the above question, but we can confirm that:
	Pay Committee meetings are held on a monthly basis covering collective bargaining and negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions;
	Quarterly Department Trade Union side (DTUS) and Annual Departmental Industrial Relations Council (DIRC) meetings are held covering other trade union and industrial relations duties; and
	Meetings covering redundancies are held as and when required during times of Departmental change/restructuring.
	The Government is soon to start consulting civil service trades unions about current facility time practices.
	The response for the Department’s non-departmental public bodies is summarised in the table.
	The following table shows how many meetings have taken place between those non-departmental bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties. It also shows the dates and times and/or duration of each meeting:
	
		
			 Care Quality Commission (CQC) 
			  (i) Total number of meetings Date Time (ii) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-2008 n/a CQC was established on 1 April 2009 and we have no data available for our predecessor organisations 
			        
			 2008-2009 n/a CQC was established on 1 April 2009 and we have no data available for our predecessor organisations 
			        
			 2009-2010 3 14 January 2010 1330-1630 8 2 February 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 February 2010 1330-1630  4 February 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 March 2010 1330-1630  8 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      10 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      24 February 2010 1430-1630 
			      8 March 2010 1430-1630 
			      18 March 2010 1430-1630 
			      22 March 2010 1430-1630 
			        
			 2010-2011 11   16 19 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   19 April 2010 1330-1630  14 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   17 May 2010 1330-1630  19 April 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 June 2010 1330-1630  13 May 2010 1430-1630 
			   12 July 2010 1330-1630  15 June 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 August 2010 1330-1630  29 June 2010 1430-1630 
			   13 September 2010 1330-1630  20 July 2010 1430-1630 
			   11 October 2010 1330-1630  3 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   15 November 2010 1330-1630  11 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   13 November 2010 1330-1630  24 August 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 February 2011 0930-1230  7 September 2010 1430-1630 
			   16 March 2011 0930-1230  21 September 2010 1430-1630 
			      28 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      12 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      21 October 2010 1430-1630 
			      26 October 2010 1430-1630 
			        
			 2011-2012 12 20 April 2011 0930-1230 6 2 April 2012 1100-1300 
			   18 May 2011 0930-1230  12 April 2012 1400-1500 
			   15 June 2011 0930-1230  17 April 2012 1500-1600 
			   20 July 2011 0930-1230  27 April 2012 1130-1300 
			   21 September 2011 0930-1230  1 May 2012 1300-1600 
			   24 October 2011 1300-1600  11 May 2012 1100-1300 
			   24 November 2011 1400-1700    
			   11 January 2012 1330-1700    
			   8 February 2012 1300-1500    
			   7 March 2012 1300-1528    
			   11 April 2012 1300-1500    
			   9 May 2012 1300-1600    
		
	
	
		
			  (iii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iv) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-2008  
			        
			 2008-2009  
			        
			 2009-2010    12 14 December 2009 1330-1430 
			      14 January 2010 1330-1430 
		
	
	
		
			      2 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      4 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      8 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      10 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      24 February 2010 1330-1430 
			      8 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      18 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      22 March 2010 1330-1430 
			      15 February 2010 1230-1330 
			      15 March 2010 1230-1330 
			        
			 2010-2011 5 26 January 2011 1500-1700 42 19 April 2010 1230-1330 
			   8 February 2011 1500-1800  17 May 2010 1230-1330 
			   17 February2011 1300-1700  15 June 2010 1330-1330 
			   2 March 2011 1300-1700  23 June 2010 1330-1330 
			   8 March 2011 1330-1700  29 June 2010 1330-1330 
			      20 July 2010 1230-1330 
			      16 June 2010 1230-1330 
			      12 July 2010 1330-1430 
			      20 July 2010 1330-1430 
			      3 August 2010 1330-1430 
			      11 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      16 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      24 August 2010 1230-1330 
			      7 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      13 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      21 September 2010 1330-1430 
			      28 September 2010 1230-1330 
			      11 October 2010 1330-1430 
			      12 October 2010 1330-1430 
			      26 October 2010 1230-1330 
			      11 November 2010 1230-1330 
			      15 November 2010 1330-1430 
			      23 November 2010 1230-1330 
			      13 November 2010 1330-1430 
			      21 December10 1330-1430 
			      25 January 2011 1330-1430 
			      16 February 2011 1230-1330 
			      16 March 2011 1330-1430 
			      13 April 2011 0830-0930 
			      20 April 2011 1330-1430 
			      18 May 2011 1330-1430 
			      8 June 2011 0830-0930 
			      3 August 2011 0830-0930 
			      24 August 2011 0830-0930 
			      19 September 2011 0830-0930 
			      4 October 2011 0830-0930 
			      10 October 2011 0830-0930 
			      26 October 2011 1200-1300 
			      9 November 2011 1400-1300 
			      28 November 2011 1400-1500 
			      8 December 2011 1400-1500 
		
	
	
		
			      21 December 2011 1200-1300 
			        
			 2011-2012 17 6 April 2011 1300-1700 15 20 April 2011 1200-1300 
			   13 April 2011 1300-1400  18 May 2011 1230-1330 
			   20 April 2011 1300-1430  15 June 2011 0800-0900 
			   18 May 2011 1330-1700  20 July 2011 1200-1300 
			   8 June 2011 0900-1100  21 September 2011 1200-1300 
			   3 August 2011 1300-1700  24 October 2011 0830-0930 
			   24 August 2011 1300-1700  24 November 2011 0830-1030 
			   19 September 2011 0930-1300  26 January 2011 1200-1300 
			   4 October 2011 1030-1300  8 February 2011 1230-1330 
			   10 October 2011 1300-1700  17 February 2011 1200-1400 
			   26 October 2011 1330-1700  2 March 2011 1200-1400 
			   9 November 2011 1430-1700  8 March 2011 1300-1400 
			   28 November 2011 1430-1700  6 April 2011 0900-1100 
			   8 December 2011 1430-1700  1 March 2012 0830-0930 
			   21 December 2011 1100-1300  27 March 2012 1230-1330 
			   1 March 2012 0930-1030    
			   27 March 2012 1330-1500    
		
	
	
		
			 General Social Care Council 
			  (i) Total number of meetings Date Time (ii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iii) Total number of meetings Date Time (iv) Total number of meetings Date Time 
			 2007-08 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 
			              
			 2008-09 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 
			              
			 2009-10 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 4 January 2hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			         February     
			              
			 2010-11 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a 4 January 2hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			         February     
			              
			 2011-12 0 n/a n/a 3 27 January 2hrs 2 February 2 hrs each 0 n/a n/a 
			      24 February 2hrs       
			      2 April 2hrs

Football

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will take steps to investigate reform of the football creditors rule.

Hugh Robertson: The Government supports the recommendation of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for a change to the present rule.
	At the same time we recognise the legal issues under consideration, and the current legal challenge being brought by HMRC against the Football League. We await the outcome of the courts' decision on this before deciding what further steps may be needed.

Meetings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport on what dates (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) senior officials in his Department have met representatives of (i) the Institute for Public Policy Research, (ii) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) ResPublica, (v) the Centre for Social Justice and (vi) Policy Exchange; and if he will publish the minutes and agendas of these meetings.

John Penrose: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), Ministers and senior officials in the Department have not met with representatives of the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Institute of Economic Affairs, ResPublica, or Policy Exchange.
	The Minister for Sport and the Olympics, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson), met with representatives of the Centre for Social Justice on 21 March 2011 to discuss a report on 2012 sports legacy. No minutes were taken.
	A senior official met with the chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance on 29 March 2012 to discuss philanthropy. No minutes were taken.

Members

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 30 March 2012 with regard to Ms L Watson.

John Penrose: The subject of this correspondence is a matter for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Therefore, this letter has been transferred to them to provide a response.

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

John Penrose: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) expenditure against its departmental expenditure limit (DEL) from April 2009 to March 2012, is shown in the table.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 April 189.1 171.5 336.9 
			 May 182.3 251.5 199.3 
			 June 254.3 259.5 271.3 
			 July 177.6 198.4 264.6 
			 August 161.4 173.6 137.8 
			 September 160.6 147.6 213.3 
			 October 208.5 225.2 176.3 
			 November 137.6 107.4 158 
			 December 188 143 238.1 
			 January 107.6 142.9 208.3 
			 February 179.8 196.3 224.4 
			 March 222.6 80.8 376.2 
			 Total 2,169.5 2,097.7 2,804.5 
		
	
	The nature of the expenditure limit, which set by the Treasury and agreed by Parliament, is such that DCMS is required not to overspend its budget each year. The Department also takes a variety of steps to monitor any potentially material underspend (for example if a programme is delayed). The most notable of these are:
	Monthly monitoring and reporting of expenditure across DCMS and its arm's length bodies (ALBs)
	Maintenance of a risk tracker to provide early warning of potential variances before they arise
	Active management of the budget across budget heads and between years

Tourism

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the value to the UK economy of outbound tourism.

John Penrose: The Government's Tourism Policy, published in March 2011, outlines the UK Government's approach to the visitor economy as a whole—including outbound tourism—both for leisure and business purposes. Further information can be found on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's website, or by using the following link:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/7896.aspx
	No official estimate has been made of the precise value of the outbound sector, but ABTA's recent report estimated that outbound travel directly contributes over £22 billion to the economy, representing 1.6% of UK GDP. With the inclusion of contributions made by industries supplying the sector, the total economic impact rises to over £54 billion, or 3.8% of UK GDP. ABTA's report has been published on their website and can be found using the following link:
	http://www.abta.com/resources/news/view/491
	The Office for National Statistics records that UK residents spent £31.0 billion abroad in 2011.
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-263688

Ministers: Codes of Practice

Harriet Harman: To ask the Prime Minister with reference to his oral answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, columns 1241-2, on the Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary), if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Civil Service to all Departments on 25 April 2012 clarifying the rigorous procedures for handling cases of a quasi-judicial nature.

David Cameron: A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Biofuels: Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information her Department holds on the level of (a) hexavalent chromium, (b) chromium, (c) titanium dioxide, (d) particulates and (e) arsenic emitted to the atmosphere from biomass plants in the UK in the latest year for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA's National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) estimates emissions to the atmosphere of a wide range of air pollutants. The most recent available estimates are for 2010, and are as follows. All the data relate to emissions from non-domestic combustion of wood and straw, and excludes open burning of wood waste.
	(a) Emissions of hexavalent chromium from biomass plants were estimated at 16 tonnes, 0.4% of the total national emission.
	(b) Emissions of chromium are estimated at 160 tonnes, 0.6% of the national total. The NAEI estimates that 10% of chromium is present in the hexavalent form in emissions from combustion processes.
	(c) Emissions of titanium dioxide have not been assessed.
	(d) The NAEI provides information on emissions of particulate matter in a number of size ranges. The emissions of particles less than 10 micrometers (PM10) were 5,700 tonnes and of those less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) were 3,200 tonnes. This represents 5% of UK emissions for both size fractions.
	(e) The emissions of arsenic to air were 130 tonnes, 1% of total UK emissions.

Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by her Department since May 2010 who was previously employed in any capacity by the (i) Conservative party or its elected representatives and (ii) Liberal Democrat party or its elected representatives; and whether their position was advertised publicly;
	(2)  what the (a) job title and (b) pay band was of each official, excluding special advisers, recruited by her Department since May 2010 who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative party and (ii) Liberal Democrat party; and whether their position was advertised publicly.

Richard Benyon: To collect any such information would require a search of all HR records which would involve disproportionate costs.

Consultants

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 1336-7W, on consultants, what additional payments were made to IBM to conduct the feasibility study and assist in setting up the shared service centre.

Richard Benyon: This information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Horses: Infectious Diseases

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to counter and prepare for a possible outbreak of African horse disease in the UK.

Richard Benyon: The likelihood of the introduction of African Horse Sickness (AHS) virus to the UK via legal trade in horses and other equidae is considered very low, but should disease occur, we recognise that the impact could be high. Any outbreak would be managed in accordance with DEFRA's Contingency Plan for Exotic Diseases of Animals, which is regularly tested. DEFRA has been working closely with representatives of the equine sector, through a joint Government and Industry Working Group, to agree a control strategy setting out what would happen should we get an outbreak of AHS. We have reached agreement with the Working Group on the control measures needed and expect to publish this control strategy shortly.

Risk Assessment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what strategic or transitional risk registers in each area of policy are held by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA's 2010-11 Annual Report and Accounts contained a Statement on Internal Control (page 55)
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/07/26/annual-report-accounts-2010-11/
	which included information on DEFRA's risk and control framework and the effectiveness of DEFRA's risk management.
	Each policy team takes a proportionate and appropriate approach to assessing the risks in its area and discusses these frequently with Ministers, when advising them of policy options.
	Updated information on DEFRA's risk management and its key risks will be available in the 2012 Annual Report and Accounts.

Sheep

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has assessed the merits of sheep farming in less favoured areas.

Richard Benyon: The Uplands Policy Review, published in March 2011, recognised the important role played by sheep farms, particularly in relation to shaping the environment. This important role, particularly in the uplands, is recognised within Environmental Stewardship and appropriate payments are available. On 9 May 2011, the National Sheep Association launched a report entitled ‘Complementary Role of Sheep In Less Favoured Areas’. The report draws on the support of many other organisations with environmental and agricultural interests who agree that traditional sheep farming practices can bring a host of environmental, social, and economic benefits to these remote and disadvantaged areas.

UN Conference on Sustainable Development

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on working with schools and organisations representing young people to consult on priorities for the Rio Earth Summit 2012; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), is leading the Government's preparations for Rio+20; the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has been involved, through the normal course of Cabinet business. Preparations for Rio+20 have involved extensive consultation with, civil society organisations, including those representing young people.

Midland Main Line

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the likely increase in (a) freight and (b) passenger capacity of upgrading and then electrifying the Midland Mainline.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail is assessing the business case for upgrading and electrifying the Midland Main line which could support additional freight and passenger capacity. The Department for Transport will announce overall decisions on rail investment in the period from 2014 to 2019 by the end of July.

Public Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new public sector mutuals were created or spun-off by her Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: In the Department for Transport, no new public sector mutuals were created or spun off in the financial years quoted.
	Officials are currently working closely with Cabinet Office colleagues on Better Business Models. DVLA is developing a £100 million efficiency programme, VOSA and DSA are transforming their provision of testing by taking it to the customer, and we are working on detailed options for the business model for VCA.

Rotherham Station

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether Rotherham Central railway station will require structural modification to accommodate the tram-train announced by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at her Department on 17 May 2012.

Norman Baker: Network Rail is currently designing two short low floor platforms for use by tram train services. It is not planned to reconstruct Rotherham Central which will continue to be served by existing services.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Chloe Smith: Since 2010, HM Treasury has achieved significant reductions through a programme of works and several initiatives to help meet its carbon reduction targets:
	Introduction of a Waste Management Strategy, including the recycling of batteries and food waste, removal of junk mail, and introduction of virtual printing to reduce paper wastage;
	Purchase of environmentally-friendly products wherever possible, including the disposable containers used in the Department's canteen at 1 Horse Guards road, and aerated water taps to reduce water use;
	Energy saving measures including lights being set to dim to 50% capacity outside of core hours, meeting room sensors set to switch off after 15 (rather than 30) minutes of inactivity and adjusted to lower levels in infrequently accessed areas, the use of low-energy, long-life light bulbs, evening security patrols tasked with checking that lights are switched off, and office cleaning taking place during the day rather than at night;
	Upgrades to the Building Management System (BMS) and controls, with adjusted settings during bank holidays and real time data available on energy usage on HM Treasury’s website; and
	Rationalisation of the Department’s estate and IT equipment to reduce energy use and carbon footprint, with sustainable disposal of obsolete equipment.
	Projects planned for 2012 include low-carbon awareness campaigns in 1 Horse Guards road, promotion of video conferencing rather than travel, and a move to closed loop paper (where paper used on site is recycled and turned back into paper which is delivered back to the Department).
	HM Treasury is currently developing a sustainability plan which will outline its strategy and actions up to 2015 for increasing sustainability and reducing carbon emissions further. The plans will be published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was generated for the Exchequer by fuel duty in the last year for which figures are available.

Chloe Smith: The latest outturn figure for fuel duty was £27.3 billion in 2010-11 published in table ‘D.3: Current Receipts: OBR forecast’ of Budget 2012, HC1853.

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to foster a savings culture in the UK.

Mark Hoban: The Government's savings strategy is based on the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility, so that it meets the needs of consumers while remaining effective and affordable. In particular, the Government aims to encourage more lower and middle income households to start saving and to save more, especially for the long term and retirement.
	The Government has taken steps to support existing savers and encourage new savers, including:
	1. Promoting choice by providing flexibility to consumers in a competitive market. This Government introduced the Junior ISA, removed the effective requirement to annuitise at age 75, and announced at Budget 2012 that the Government will work with industry to improve competitiveness and transparency in the ISA market, including encouraging industry to make use of the technological advances in how information and funds can be transferred to bring further reductions in the time taken to transfer cash ISA between providers. The Government also welcomes and strongly supports the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) recommendations to make it easier for personal customers, small businesses and charities to switch their bank account. The Government is clear that the new switching proposals need to be fully implemented by the industry by September 2013 and will monitor progress closely through quarterly interim reports.
	2. Promoting fairness in incentives to save by introducing automatic enrolment of employees into a pension scheme from October 2012, reforming the way pensions tax relief is restricted and indexing ISA contribution limits to inflation.
	3. Promoting personal responsibility within the saving, debt and protection system so individuals are equipped to exercise effective choice and plan for expected and unexpected events. This Government has introduced the Money Advice Service, which among other services provides a free financial ‘healthcheck’; asked an independent Steering Group to devise a suite of simple financial products to help increase the number of new participants in savings and protection insurance markets by providing straightforward, easy to understand products; and worked with industry and consumer groups to establish a ‘default’ open market option, which requires retirees to make an active choice about their provider and the shape of their annuity.

International Monetary Fund

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to review the size of the New Arrangements to Borrow and the implementation of the IMF quota change.

Mark Hoban: At the spring meetings in Washington in April 2012, a G20-led deal to increase IMF resources by $430 billion was agreed. The IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and the G20 also reaffirmed the urgency of making the 2010 quota and governance reforms effective by the 2012 Annual Meetings, which this year will be held in Tokyo from the 12 to 14 October.
	As agreed by the G20 in South Korea in 2010, the New Arrangements to Borrow are currently planned to be rolled back when the IMF Quota and Governance reforms are ratified by the required majority of member countries. The UK ratified the reforms in Parliament in July 2011.

Revenue and Customs

Mike Freer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs has earned through penalties since 31 January 2012.

David Gauke: The HMRC Financial Accounts which contain details of penalties accrued during the financial year are currently in the process of being prepared and audited. They are timetabled to be laid before Parliament on 27 June 2012.
	The accounts will specify the revenue accrued, including penalties, for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012. Revenues are deemed to accrue evenly over the period for which they are due.
	The data will appear in the ‘Statement of Revenue, Other Income and Expenditure’ within the Trust Statement, and the ‘Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure’ in the Resource Accounts (with specific detail in the accompanying note on ‘operating income’).

Revenue and Customs

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will extend the use of 0345 numbers for telephone calls made by the public to HM Revenue and Customs to all calls handled by its contact centre network.

David Gauke: I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) on 17 May 2012, Official Report, column 301W.

Mali

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 543W, on Mali, what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Mali; what information his Department holds on the number of international aid organisations that have withdrawn since the military coup in March 2012; what recent discussions he has had on the restoration of democracy and civilian rule when the agreement to hand power temporarily to President Dioncounda Traore runs out on 21 May 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: Reports suggest that over 300,000 men, women and children have been uprooted by the current crisis in Mali. Ongoing conflict in the country is exacerbating the already worsening food and nutrition crisis that is affecting some 18 million people across the Sahel. The UK is supporting, where local conditions allow, the work of UN and international non-governmental organisations to provide humanitarian assistance for approximately 68,000 individuals. We continue to monitor the situation and are in close contact with agencies working on the ground.
	The deterioration in security conditions in the northern regions of Mali has also limited the delivery of humanitarian assistance. This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are monitoring the issue of humanitarian access closely.
	We cannot say precisely how many aid organisations have left since March 2012 but, at the time of the coup d’état in March, we know that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was one of many organisations that had to close their offices in the north of Mali as a result of insecurity and unrest. The WFP is working on ways to guarantee safe conditions for the return of their staff and the resumption of aid to those affected by conflict in Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao.
	We understand that agreement was reached over the weekend of 19-20 May to extend the mandate of the interim government for a further 12 months. However, the status of this agreement remains unclear following the attack on President Traore on 21 May. The UK continues to monitor the situation in Bamako. We condemn the latest violence and continue to engage actively—including through our recently reopened embassy—with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), regional governments and our international partners, to support a swift return to democratic, constitutional government.

North Africa and Middle East

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what programmes his Department supports in North Africa and the Middle East on (a) women's social and political participation, (b) women's health and (c) reduction of female genital mutilation.

Alistair Burt: The UK is supporting the empowerment of women in the political, economic and social life of the middle east and north Africa (MENA). As part of the UK's national action plan to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security we have launched a specific action plan for the MENA region.
	(a) The UK is supporting women's political participation in the MENA region. For example, the UK's Arab Partnership is funding an Electoral Reform International Services programme in Egypt to promote the participation of women candidates in Egyptian local council elections. The tri-Departmental Conflict Pool (FCO/DFID/MOD) is supporting women's participation in the Libyan political process, co-funding the first ever Women's Convention in Tripoli in November 2011, and programmes to mobilise women to form networks and common platforms to advocate locally and nationally for greater social, economic and political inclusion. The UK's DFID-led bilateral aid programmes in Yemen and Palestine are also working for women's empowerment. For example DFID's support to the Yemeni Social Fund for Development (SFD), is contributing to increasing girls' participation and access to education, and improving economic opportunities for women through micro finance and labour intensive works projects. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), DFID's state-building programme is boosting citizen's rights by helping the Palestinian Authority to be more accountable and responsive to the public, including improving their services for female victims of violence.
	(b) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not directly support women's health programmes, but the UK's bilateral aid programmes are working to improve women's health in Yemen and Palestine. For example, UK support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides essential services, including female healthcare, to Palestinians living in the OPTS and Palestinian refugees. In 2011, our support to UNRWA helped provide maternal health care to 263,000 women, and our funding to the PA supports over 2,000 women a year to give birth assisted by skilled health personnel. In Yemen, our support will also help deliver access to basic health care for 50,000 girls and women and access to health care for approximately 38,000 women.
	(c) We are clear that the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) needs to end. While we do not have any specific FGM programmes in the MENA region, we are making a contribution to global measures to eliminate FGM through our core support to UN organisations working on this issue—the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) money, (b) training, (c) personnel, (d) security equipment and (e) other support for security assistance his Department has provided to Yemen in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2011; and what such support he plans to provide to Yemen in 2012-13.

Alistair Burt: As part of the British Government's package of measures to support the Government of Yemen, we have agreed a detailed programme to assist them with improvement in aviation security at Sana'a International airport. This programme includes the provision of aviation security equipment and training which the British Government has been rolling out since 2011. We do not comment on the detail of wider security assistance.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the airport scanners promised to Yemen in 2011 were delivered; and when such delivery took place.

Alistair Burt: As part of the British Government's package of measures to support the Government of Yemen, we have agreed a detailed programme to help to improve aviation security at Sana’a International airport. This programme includes the provision of aviation security equipment and training which the British Government has been rolling out since 2011. We do not comment on the detail of wider security assistance.

Armed Forces: Mental Illness

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to combat stigmatisation of mental illness in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: We take the mental well-being of our people very seriously and have put systems in place for those that need help to obtain it without recourse.
	Service personnel, and their families receive education on the signs and symptoms of mental health difficulties and are signposted to help and support by the chain of command, and the relevant welfare organisations. In addition, through initiatives such as peer-led Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) sessions, individuals are encouraged to speak freely about their experiences following a traumatic incident. This can be followed up with in-theatre medical teams and during decompression in Cyprus.
	I am satisfied that through a wide range of education and material and the proactive campaign to remove the stigma associated with mental health difficulties, any member of the armed forces suffering with this debilitating condition is now more likely to come forward and obtain the help they need.

Armed Forces: Mental Illness

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department are taking to improve the screening, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the issue of mental health very seriously, and we are always looking for ways to improve the already excellent treatment and care that we provide for those who need it. We have a close working relationship with the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King's College, London, which undertakes a range of research aimed at understanding and improving the mental health of the UK armed forces. It currently includes a major study, funded by the US Department of Defence, of a possible mental health screening tool using UK armed forces personnel returning from operations.
	As well as carrying out or commissioning our own research, we closely monitor clinical advances and developments in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions, both in the UK and internationally, in order to ensure that patients receive the most effective and efficient care.
	In accordance with the recommendations of my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison)’s 'Fighting Fit' Report, published in October 2010, additional resources are also being allocated by MOD and the Department of Health to improve the mental health care provided to both serving and ex-service personnel. Key among these are the commissioning of an extra 30 whole-time equivalent NHS mental health professionals to deliver improved access to NHS mental health services to veterans, and the launch in March last year of a professional 24-hour helpline for current and ex-service personnel and their families. Additionally, we are currently trialling use by the service community of the Big White Wall, an online early intervention service for people in psychological distress. An e-learning package has been launched to help civilian GPs understand the needs of the military, their families and ex-service personnel. We are also introducing mental health assessments into routine service medical examinations and into discharge medicals, which are currently being introduced on a regional basis.

Arms Trade

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 1134W, how many of his staff work on export promotion in support of the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation; and what the budget was for (a) their salaries and (b) other costs in 2011-12.

George Howarth: UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), led by Lord Green, has overall responsibility within Government for trade promotion. However, UKTI DSO works very closely with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) whose contribution can be critical to the success of an industry-led export campaign. A wide variety of support is provided from across the Department. Records on how many staff are engaged in supporting UKTI DSO are not centrally held.
	There is no central budget for export support. The cost of supporting a particular export campaign is funded by the business unit providing the support where there is a defence benefit in doing so, in accordance with HM Treasury rules. Alternatively the costs of support are charged back to UKTI DSO or to industry.
	There is a permanent team of two in the MOD responsible for export support policy and direct engagement with UKTI DSO. There are also two senior civil servant (SCS) posts—at pay band one and two—who are responsible for co-ordinating the Department's export effort. The pay range for each post per annum is:
	SCS pay band 2: Minimum £82,900, Maximum £162,500
	SCS pay band 1: Minimum £58,200, Maximum £117,750
	B2: Minimum £49,860, Maximum £59,535
	C2: Minimum £30,428, Maximum £36,333
	The MOD can charge a Commercial Export Levy to offset costs incurred by the Department in supporting export campaigns.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures his Department introduced to reduce its carbon emissions in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a varied programme of work to reduce carbon emissions including boiler optimisation, lighting upgrades, adjusting heating times to reflect building occupancy, minimum/maximum temperature mandates, weekend and holiday shutdowns, IT and electrical equipment reductions and rationalisation, staff engagement and behavioural campaigns.
	In 2010-11 (the last year for which figures are available) the MOD exceeded the 10% carbon emission reduction commitment on the civil office estate, by achieving a 14.7% reduction. In addition the department also exceeded the Sustainable Operations on the Government estate targets, achieving a 21.4% reduction against the carbon emissions from the office estate target of 12.5% and a 24% reduction against the carbon emissions from vehicles' target of 15%.
	The MOD is now working toward the new Greening Government Commitment of a 25% reduction in emissions from the whole estate and business related transport by 2015.

Defence: Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department's equipment budget will increase by one per cent above inflation in each financial year from 2015 onwards.

Peter Luff: In Planning Round 2012 we assumed that the Department's spending on equipment and equipment support would increase by 1% above inflation in each financial year from 2015.

Devonport Dockyard

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the annual budget of HMNB Devonport has been written off as a (a) loss and (b) theft in the last three years for which figures are available.

Peter Luff: The proportion of the budget of Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport written off as a result of losses and theft combined accounted for less than 1% of the annual budget for financial years 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12.

Harrier Aircraft

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give consideration to reversing the decision to transfer the UK's Harrier warplanes to the US.

Peter Luff: The Harrier was a flexible and capable aircraft which served the nation well. However, owing to the reduction in the size of the Harrier fleet to 32 aircraft in 2009 under the previous Government it was unable to achieve sustained operations in Afghanistan and maintain an adequate contingent capability for the unexpected on its own. Only the Tornado could do this and sustaining fleets of three types of aircraft was unaffordable. We accepted that this decision would create a gap in carrier strike capability until the end of the decade. The sale has been completed and the Government does not intend to reverse the decision to sell the Harrier fleet to the US Government.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects sea trials of the F35b aircraft to commence.

Peter Luff: F35B sea trials have already commenced and are well advanced in the United States.
	As stated in the Secretary of State for Defence’s statement to the House on 10 May 2012, Official Report, columns 140-53, we expect flying from the QE to commence in 2018, but no exact date in that year has been set for when the UK sea trials will commence.

Military Police

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Ministry of Defence police officers are employed (a) at HMNB Devonport and (b) within Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence keeps security at all sites under constant review to ensure that civil policing resources are used in an effective and proportional manner. The number of Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) officers deployed at Devonport, and within the Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency, are commensurate with the current tasking levels.
	I am withholding the number of officers deployed at and around HMNB Devonport, as the disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces. It would also be likely to prejudice law enforcement at those locations.

Military Police

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has assessed the potential effects of reducing the number of defence community police officers on the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Andrew Robathan: I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 27 March 2012, Official Report, columns 116-19WS, in which I explained that the future requirement for Defence Community Police Officers has been carefully reviewed against other competing priorities. Community support activity on a number of Defence families' estates is already successfully provided by local police forces, and we have concluded, subject to consultation with the Defence Police Federation, that we should adopt this model more widely, allowing the withdrawal of most MOD Police Defence Community Police Officers in Great Britain. We do not believe this change would affect the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Nimrod Aircraft

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has assessed any implications arising from the Haddon Cave report on the loss of the Nimrod Xv230 for the safety management of Royal Navy (a) Vanguard class and (b) other submarines.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has encouraged all those involved in the submarine programme to consider the implications of Haddon-Cave's findings and recommendations for their own safety management arrangements. In common with Defence as a whole, the submarine programme is adopting a more rigorous approach to the recognition of safety duty holders. In another significant development, there has been an improvement in MOD regulation of safety through the creation of the Defence Safety and Environment Authority, within which the Defence Maritime Regulator and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator have specific remits for the submarine programme. This is consistent with the creation of the Military Aviation Authority as directly recommended by Haddon-Cave.

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, to the hon. Member for Cardiff West, Official Report, column 1407W, on Atos, when each contract between his Department and Atos was most recently renewed or extended.

Chris Grayling: Regarding the five DWP contracts with Atos the dates for the most recent contract renewals or extensions are as follows;
	
		
			 Policy area Most recent contract re-let or extension 
			 Medical Services This contract was most recently extended in November 2010 
			 Tell Us Once—Tell Us Once Release A This contract was most recently extended in August 2011 
			 enGage (Government Gateway) This contract was most recently extended in March 2011 
			 Occupational Health This contract has not been renewed or extended since its original award 
			 Community Action Programme This contract was most recently extended in January 2012

Children: Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, column 1411W, on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, what the substance was of each of the changes made to the contract between Tata Consulting Services and the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission since 2009.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Noel Shanahan
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, column 1411W, on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, what the substance was of each of the changes made to the contract between Tata Consulting Services and the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission since 2009.(108283]
	The five key contract changes made to the contract between Tata Consulting Services (TCS) and the Commission since 2009 are:
	CCN001—The introduction of contractual clauses relating to fraud management with no impact to contract value.
	CCN002—Amendments to the procedure for managing contract changes, an agreement to a number of change requests and a revised implementation plan.
	CCN003—Amendment to reflect transition from time and materials terms to a fixed price term to complete supplier testing and consequential changes to the services to be provided. New governance and change management arrangements were created.
	CCN004—An amendment to reflect changes to the duration of the maintenance agreement for the TCS banking software package with no impact to contract value.
	CCN005—Amendments to the criteria used by the Commission for accepting the conclusion of certain phases of testing and an agreement that TCS will support three months of testing at no additional cost.

Incapacity Benefit

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's risk register for the decision to roll-out nationwide the incapacity benefits migration programme.

Chris Grayling: The Department has no plans to publish any risk registers regarding its operations. The phased approach to incapacity benefit migration was itself a risk mitigation prior to implementing the change nationally. There is no specific risk register now that migration is part of day to day operations.

Jobseeker's Allowance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the median length of waiting time was for callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: It is not possible to obtain the median figure as requested, as this would require a full list of every individual instance rather than the aggregated figures our Management Information system presents. All figures routinely reported within the DWP represent mean, rather than median, averages.
	The relevant mean figures are as follows:
	First contact (jobseekers allowance new claims—April 2012—operational month (7 April to 4 May 05)
	Average wait time to answer: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
	Please note, these figures will also include calls relating to IS new claims.
	JSA inquiries (jobseekers allowance existing claims)—April 2012—operational month  ( 7 April to 4 May)
	Average wait time to answer: 3 minutes, 59 seconds
	Please note that figures for April will have been significantly impacted by both increased seasonal demand at the start of the new business year and condensed demand following bank holidays and so do not necessarily provide representative figures of CCS performance under the conditions encountered during the majority of the operational year.
	All figures represent wait time from customer entry into the relevant queue excluding any time spent progressing through any messaging presented prior to the queue being reached. Figures for both service lines will include all calls received including inappropriate/misdirected contact.

Jobseeker's Allowance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the length of time waited by the top 85 percentile of callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: I can advise the top 85 percentile is not available. The telephony platform would not capture wait times by individual in order for us to calculate the wait time for that or indeed any proportion of the total.

Personal Independence Payment

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether an assessment by the social services department of a local authority that a person with a disability requires care and support will be sufficient evidence of eligibility for the personal independence payment.

Maria Miller: Within personal independence payment we intend to move away from the blanket exemptions and automatic entitlement provisions that exist within disability living allowance and treat every claimant as an individual. As such, entitlement to personal independence payment will not be based upon individuals' specific health conditions or impairments nor on what existing entitlement to other benefits or support they may have, including social care support. The assessment for the new benefit will instead focus on the extent to which claimants' health condition or impairment affect their day to day lives, by assessing ability to carry out key everyday activities. This will ensure that priority in the benefit goes to those people who face the greatest barriers to living independent lives.
	While the fact that claimants have entitlement to social care or other support will not be a factor in whether they are entitled to personal independence payment, we do want to ensure that our assessments are based on the best and most appropriate evidence. Evidence is likely to come from a range of sources and individuals will be able to provide us with the evidence they consider relevant and to tell us which other professionals may be able to advise us on their circumstances, for example, GP, nurse, hospital consultant or social worker. Reports produced as part of assessments for other support may form a useful part of this evidence mix.
	This suite of information and evidence will allow for a far more personalised approach to be undertaken both on overall entitlement to the benefit and on whether a face-to-face consultation is needed with the individual as part of the assessment. Such an approach will allow for more informed decisions to be made, taking full account of how the health condition or impairment impacts upon the individual.

Social Security Benefits: Data Protection

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private businesses and public bodies have access to information held by his Department relating to individuals' employment history and working age benefit claims; and for what reasons each body has access in each case.

Chris Grayling: The Department lawfully allows specific organisations to access personal data for a wide range of statutory purposes. This access may be required, for example, by the Department's data processors, organisations working with individuals to assist them into employment, or other data controllers, such as local authorities to assist with the assessment of housing benefit.
	A wide range of private and public organisations are provided with information for such purposes and compiling a single list of the uses made by each of them could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department has provided further detail of the ways in which personal information is used, in an explanatory leaflet ‘DWP and your personal information’ in its published Privacy Policy which is available on the Departments internet pages at the following address:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/#DPA

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if the Government will consider reviewing Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and its use for tackling and preventing child neglect.

Tim Loughton: The earlier that help is given to vulnerable children and families, the more chance there is of turning lives around and protecting children from harm. The Government's vision is for a child centred system which includes providing effective help when a problem arises at any stage in a child's life.
	Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 makes it an offence to assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon or expose a child in a manner that is likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the child or injury to his health. Section 1 specifies that this includes any mental derangement. It does not therefore focus solely on a child's physical needs.
	Concerns about a child's welfare may arise in many different contexts and the nature of these concerns will vary greatly from case to case. What is important is that action is taken quickly so that a problem does not escalate.
	Understanding families and the experiences of children within them can be complex and signs of low level abuse and neglect may be misleading. Professionals working in universal services—health, education, police and early years—have a responsibility to identify the early signs of abuse and neglect, to share that information and work together to provide children with the help they need.
	Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are being neglected. Under section 47 local authorities have a duty to make inquiries when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.
	Revisions we are proposing to make to statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2010) will continue to set out the processes to be followed when there are concerns about a child's safety and welfare. These concerns may be serious enough to justify initiating action in the family court. The threshold criteria set out in section 31 of the Children Act 1989 is used by judges when deciding whether a child has suffered significant harm and should be the subject of a statutory care or supervision order.
	However, statutory guidance itself is not sufficient to effect the change needed. We are helping children's services, police and the NHS to work together and focus on early identification before problems escalate. We are also working with Ofsted to make sure their inspections look at whether children are getting the help they need. We are undertaking a number of reforms to strengthen social work practice. This includes improving the social work degree and developing further the skills of existing social workers in critical areas such as child protection. We have advertised for and intend to appoint a Chief Social Worker, who will work with the new College of Social Work and the newly designated Principal Child and Family Social Workers in local authorities to drive improvement and raise standards. The Department has also commissioned Action for Children and the University of Stirling to produce training materials to help equip the work force to respond effectively to children who are likely to be, or have been, neglected. These materials will be published soon.

Children: Poverty

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of children were living in poverty in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne North constituency, (b) the North East and (c) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Maria Miller: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	Estimates of the number and proportion of children living in poverty are published in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. HBAI uses household income adjusted (or 'equivalised') for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living.
	The sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates at local authority level. However, figures at a regional level for England and the north east are available. Three survey years have been combined because single year estimates are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.
	Statistics covering 2007/08 to 2009/10 are the most recent available.
	The following table shows the proportion and number of children living in relative poverty before housing costs (BHC) for 2007/08 to 2009/10 in England and the north east.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number and proportion of children living in relative poverty (BHC) in England and the north east, 2007/08 to 2009/10 
			 Region Number (million) Proportion (%) 
			 England 2.3 21 
			 North East 0.1 26 
			 Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) available at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai_arc This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 3. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost rather than an after housing cost basis. For before housing costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are. 4. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 5. The reference period for these HBAI figures is the financial year. 6. Numbers of households with children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children. 7. Proportions of households with children have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 8. This measure is defined as: - Relative poverty: households with children with equivalised incomes below 60% of contemporary median household income before housing costs (BHC). 9. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets four income-based UK-wide targets to be met by 2020. The targets are based on the proportion of children living in households with relative low income, combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. Source: Households Below Average Income 1994/95 to 2009/10, DWP

Home Education

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent to which local authorities are fulfilling their duty to identify home-schooled children who are not receiving a suitable education.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not recently undertaken an assessment of how local authorities are fulfilling their statutory duty to identify those children of compulsory school age who are not receiving a suitable education at home. However, the Department plans to review its statutory guidance on Children Missing Education for local authorities later in the autumn.

Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed at the latest period for which figures are available.

Tim Loughton: The Department employed 2,622 or 2,504.1 full-time equivalent (FTE) on the 31 May 2010. A more detailed breakdown covering how the Department and its arms length bodies have changed since March 2010 is as follows.
	
		
			  March 2010 March 2012 April 2012 
			  Headcount FTE Headcount FTE Headcount FTE 
			 Total group 9,710 9,258 7,860 7,385 7,542 7,073 
			 DFE Total 7,435 7,062 6,244 5,828 5,943 5,535 
			 DFE plus Executive Agencies 2,691 2,571 2,789 2,673 4,024 3,868 
			 DFE Core 2,691 2,571 2,699 2,585 2,818 2,699 
			 Executive Agencies 0 0 90 88 1,206 1,169 
			 NDPBs 4,744 4,492 3,455 3,155 1,919 1,667 
			 Non-Ministerial Departments 2,275 2,196 1,616 1,557 1,599 1,538

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time; and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12;
	(2)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse;
	(3)  how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12;
	(4)  if he will place in the Library copies of the facility time agreements between trade unions and (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies;
	(5)  how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-department public bodies have faced disciplinary action for abusing paid facility time or public resources in each of the last five years;
	(6)  how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting;
	(7)  on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years.

Tim Loughton: In 2011-2012 the Department had three full-time and 30 part-time trade union representatives. A minimum of 396 days were used as paid facility time, 293 for duties and 103 for activities at a total cost of £220,000.
	In CAFCASS there were the equivalent of 5.5 full-time officials with a total of 1,270 days facility time used at a cost of £500,000.
	The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) have two-part time officials. Additional information in relation to the cost and number of days spent on facilities time is not held centrally.
	A copy of the facilities agreements for the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the OCC have been placed in the House Libraries.
	Fewer than five trade union representatives in the Department and its non-departmental public bodies have faced disciplinary action for the misuse of facility time in the last five years.
	Included in the following table are the details of formal meetings between the Department and the trade unions. The table documents the minimum number of meetings held; additional meetings have taken place on a formal and informal basis but this information is not held centrally. This information covers the period 2011-12. Information for earlier years is not available. Information as supplied by CAFCASS and OCC is also included.
	The Department and its NDPBs do not collect information detailing the amount of facility time used to represent an employee at a meeting. All information contained here is in relation to the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) only. Information relating to NDPBs that were abolished with effect from 31 March 2012 is not available.
	
		
			 Meetings held between Department for Education and trade unions 2011-12 
			 Date Time Meeting type 
			 8 April 2011 11.00-13.00 Other 
		
	
	
		
			 11 April 2011 11.00-12.00 Other 
			 14 April 2011 15.00-17.00 Other 
			 27 April 2011 11.00-13.00 Other 
			 5 May 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 5 May 2011 11.00-12.00 Other 
			 24 May 2011 16.00-17.00 Other 
			 6 June 2011 13.00-15.00 Other 
			 13 June 2011 15.00-16.00 Other 
			 13 June 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 15 June 2011 10.00-11.00 Other 
			 5 July 2011 16.00-17.00 Other 
			 14 July 2011 15.00-17.00 Other 
			 26 July 2011 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 4 August 2011 13.00-15.00 Other 
			 20 September 2011 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 20 September 2011 15.00-16.00 Other 
			 21 September 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 4 October 2011 15.15-16.15 Other 
			 6 October 2011 10.00-10.30 Other 
			 11 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 17 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 18 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 6 December 2011 17.15-18.00 Other 
			 8 December 2011 11.15-12.00 Other 
			 16 January 2012 13.00-14.00 Other 
			 18 January 2012 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 1 February 2012 14.00-15.00 Other 
			 4 May 2011 12.30-13.30 Pay and Conditions 
			 25 May 2011 15.30-16.30 Pay and Conditions 
			 15 July 2011 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 9 August 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 September 2011 12.00-13.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 19 September 2011 13.00-15.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 27 October 2011 14.00-15.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 16 November 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 28 November 2011 15.00-16.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 1 December 2011 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 December 2011 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 10 January 2011 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 11 January 2012 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 25 January 2012 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 9 February 2012 10.00-11.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 14 February 2012 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 21 February 2012 13.00-14.00 Pay and Conditions 
			 7 March 2012 10.00-12.00 Pay and Conditions 
		
	
	Meetings held between CAFCASS and trade union 2011-12
	12 operational meetings and 10 national meetings. Further details are not available.
	Meetings held between Office for the Children’s Commissioner and trade unions
	Approximately six meetings were held. Further details are not available.

Courts: Enforcement

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the potential saving to the Exchequer of privatising the Court Enforcement Service.

Jonathan Djanogly: The policy and commercial strategy, in relation to possible future plans to work with a commercial partner to deliver criminal compliance and enforcement functions within HM Courts and Tribunals Service, are still currently under development. Any associated benefits and savings resulting from the implementation of such a policy are still subject to review and approval and would not be fully determined and validated until the commercial process has concluded.

Courts: Enforcement

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people are employed by HM Courts Service on court enforcement in each region.

Jonathan Djanogly: The number of enforcement staff in each of the HM Court Service regions are as set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Region Number of enforcement staff 
			 London 231 
			 Midlands 367 
			 North East 366 
			 North West 272 
			 South East 248 
			 South West 206 
			 Wales 157 
			 Total 1,847

Family Courts: Worcestershire

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the waiting times for Family Court hearings in child protection cases in Worcestershire.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are working with system partners (Department for Education, CAFCASS, local authorities) to improve family performance across the board, particularly in relation to the 'public law' cases that deal with child protection issues. This work includes assessing waiting times at courts, and working to ensure that all courts have sufficient capacity to ensure that public law cases can progress in a timely manner.
	To improve court capacity, HMCTS has allocated an extra 4,000 county court sitting days across England and Wales in this financial year, which represents an overall increase of 8,000 days compared to 2009-10. Of the 4,000 extra days released, 680 have been allocated to the Midlands region, and 31 of these have been allocated for use at Worcester county court. This represents an increase to Worcester's dedicated family sitting day allocation of just over 20%. HMCTS has also ring-fenced the sitting days allocated for family cases in the magistrates courts to ensure that they are used as intended. HMCTS are monitoring the effect that these extra days are having on the timely progression of cases, and have developed regional action plans to ensure that local performance is improved, and that any local barriers to performance improvement are tackled.
	The progression of child protection cases is managed within a judicially led framework known as the Public Law Outline (PLO). The PLO specifies that the first hearing should take place within six days from issue, and then a case management conference should be held within 45 days from issue. There are no targets for when issue resolution and final hearings should take place, but the PLO is clear that these should be at a pace that is consistent with the child's individual needs and circumstances. It must be noted however that all parties— legal representatives, local authority representatives, CAFCASS guardians, parents—must be available to attend that hearing in order for it to be effective. Waiting times for court hearings are therefore not only dependent on court capacity, but also on the availability of the parties and other agencies to attend the dates offered. Public law hearings can often be up to five days, which will obviously affect the parties' ability to attend at short notice. In some cases the court will need to arrange an urgent hearing, eg to consider and application for an emergency protection order. In such cases the court will make all efforts to ensure that an emergency hearing takes place immediately. The HMCTS action plans outlined above also include a range of activities to improve adherence to the PLO, and to liaise with CAFCASS or local authorities on how attendance for hearings can be improved.
	The independent Family Justice Review, chaired by David Norgrove, put forward recommendations to improve the progression and timeliness of public law cases. The Government response, published in February this year, set out the range of actions that the Government would take to address the shortcomings identified by the review, and take its recommendations forward. One such recommendation is the establishment of a dedicated Family Justice Board, which will have the key responsibility for improving performance nationally. This national board will be supported by a network of local Family Justice Boards based around local courts and local authorities. These local boards are currently being established and will tackle local performance issues, and ensure open communication lines between courts and local child protection agencies.
	While the Government do not collect statistics on how long parties wait for hearings at particular courts, we do measure how long it takes for child protection cases to be completed. In Worcestershire, overall average case duration for care and supervision applications for October to December 2011, the latest period available, is as follows:
	Worcester county court: 70 weeks (revised since the provisional figure of 68 was published on 29 March 2012).
	Worcestershire Family Proceedings Courts: 44 weeks
	The national average for care and supervision case duration currently stands at 55 weeks, and all local case durations can be found on the Open Justice website:
	http://open.justice.gov.uk/courts/care-proceedings/
	The Government is committed to reducing this average both nationally and at all local courts, and intends to legislate for a six month time limit in child protection cases. In the meantime all agencies have been tasked, under the stewardship of the Family Justice Board, with improving their performance and reducing case duration significantly in advance of the time limit being implemented.

Fraud: Direct Mail

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to make redress more readily accessible for victims of mail scams.

Norman Lamb: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	I am of course aware of the damage and harm that mail scams can have on victims and their families, and Government recognises the need for a concerted effort to stop them. That is why the National Fraud Authority (NFA), the Metropolitan Police Service and other agencies have worked together to target this matter. They have engaged with partners, involving officials in my Department and with Royal Mail, to tackle scams and stop scam mail from getting into the postal system in the first place and sever the link between the fraudster and possible victims. A direct result of this was the recent seizure by the Metropolitan Police Service of a large consignment of scam mail.
	I believe it is important that the greatest effort is applied where it will have the greatest impact. This is by confronting and preventing the mail from getting into the postal system in the first place, and by doing so stopping this type of mail from getting anywhere near its intended victims. This needs to be intelligence-led and based on effective evidence. Where mass marketed scams originate from overseas, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Office of Fair Trading work closely with overseas counterparts to tackle the worst perpetrators.
	I am therefore confident that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, working with appropriate bodies and the industry, is doing all it can to stop scams getting into the postal system, to ensure that consumers have access to effective advice and victims have access to support.
	In addition Action Fraud, the UK's fraud reporting centre, offers a service to all victims and potential victims of mail scams to report instances of fraud. The crime and information reports collected are sent directly to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau based at the City of London police. The data is used to inform our picture of fraud and better target resources for preventative and investigative purposes.
	www.actionfraud.police.uk
	0300 123 2040

Legal Aid Scheme

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of his Department's total procurement expenditure was spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11, (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12.

Kenneth Clarke: The proportion of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11 (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12 is as shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Quarter Proportion represented as a percentage (%) 
			 January to March 11 (fourth quarter of 2010-11) 40 
			 April to June 13 (first quarter of 2011-12) 37 
		
	
	
		
			 July to September 11 (second quarter of 2011-12) 42

Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department next expects to undertake a spend recovery audit to identify overpayments to suppliers caused by fraud or error.

Kenneth Clarke: The Cabinet Office is in the process of developing a starter information pack for every Department and arm’s length body on how to implement a spend-recovery audit. The information pack will be available from the Cabinet Office in May 2012.
	Once the information pack has been received, Ministry of Justice Internal Audit and Assurance will plan a spend-recovery audit into their annual audit programme.

Restraint Techniques: Safety

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the safety of prison officers over the age of 60 whose duties include the restraint of prisoners.

Crispin Blunt: NOMS has a wide range of measure in place to assess the safety of all prison officers, all of whose duties will include the restraint of prisoners.
	The measures include violence reduction strategies designed to reduce the likelihood of restraint being necessary. These include:
	Reception assessment and ongoing information sharing re prisoners history and behaviour
	National and local security strategies
	Security reporting and intelligence analysis
	Individual and cell searching procedures
	Serious incident reporting and analysis
	Predictive risk assessment tools for offending behaviour
	Violence reduction strategies and groups
	Zero Tolerance anti-violence campaign
	Locking procedures
	Cell and prison building and fabric layout and design
	Promotion of de-escalation and talk-down strategies
	Training and guidance on communication with prisoners
	To manage the residual risk, alt Prison Officers receive extensive training in the use of Control and Restraint techniques both in their initial training (32 hours with a four hour assessment) and then in an annual "refresher" training session lasting one day.
	A fitness testing program for officers is also in place and has been a contractual requirement for all staff who have been appointed as prison officers since April 2001.
	Occupational health advice on individual cases can also be sought where necessary.

Restraint Techniques: Safety

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to ensure that prison officers over the age of 60 will not be involved in (a) the physical restraint of prisoners and (b) other activities which may cause them injury.

Crispin Blunt: NOMS does not differentiate between Prison Officers based on their age. It has a wide range of measures in place to reduce the likelihood of all prison officers being involved in (a) the physical restraint of prisoners and (b) other activities that may cause them harm. These measures are in place to protect all prison officers and are not related to the age of the prison officer.
	The measures to reduce the likelihood of prison officers being involved in the physical restraint of prisoners include a number of violence reduction strategies. These include:
	Reception assessment and ongoing information sharing re prisoners history and behaviour
	National and local security strategies
	Security reporting and intelligence analysis
	Individual and cell searching procedures
	Serious incident reporting and analysis
	Predictive risk assessment tools for offending behaviour
	Violence reduction strategies and groups
	Zero Tolerance anti-violence campaign
	Locking procedures
	Cell and prison building and fabric layout and design
	Promotion of de-escalation and talk-down strategies
	Training and guidance on communication with prisoners
	NOMS has an Occupational Health and Safety Policy which requires managers to undertake assessments of all the risks in their establishments. These risk assessments will identify any other activities in the work place that may cause harm. They will assess the risks of these activities, identify the staff affected, and the appropriate control measures required to reduce the risks. This does include those staff who are judged to be no longer physically capable of carrying out their duties.
	These risks and the effectiveness of the control measures will be monitored by managers and the risk assessment and control measures revised as necessary.

Russia

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  who he met on his visit to Russia in May 2012;
	(2)  whether he discussed (a) the rule of law, (b) human rights, (c) legal nihilism and (d) corruption in Russia in May 2012; with whom each such discussion took place; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  whether he discussed the cases of (a) Sergei Magnitsky, (b) Vasily Alexanyan and (c) Mikhail Khodorkovsky on his visit to Russia in May 2012; with whom each such discussion took place; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  whether he was accompanied by any other hon. Member on his visit to Russia in May 2012.

Kenneth Clarke: I met a number of Russian legal experts to discuss human rights and the rule of law. These included the Vice Rector of Faculty of Law of St Petersburg State University; the Chair of the Freedom of Information Foundation; the Vice Rector and Director of the Rule of Law Institute at the European University of St Petersburg; a Managing Partner at Baker and Mackenzie St Petersburg; and the Senior Legal Monitor for Russia at the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre.
	I also met human rights experts and John Smith Fellows to discuss a range of human rights issues. Organisations included Citizens Watch; 'Memorial' (anti-discrimination organisation);, 'Coming Out' (LGBT rights organisation); 'Side by Side' (the St Petersburg International LGBT Film Festival); St Petersburg's Human Rights Ombudsman; Human Rights Watch's Russia office; the Centre for Development of Democracy and Human Rights; and the John Smith Trust Representative in Russia.
	I met a number of Justice Ministers, including the Russian Justice Minister, Alexander Konovalov to discuss justice co-operation, rule of law, the protection of human rights (including the cases of Sergei Magnilsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and legal sector reform. I also met Eric Holder, the US Attorney-General, to discuss justice and security issues.
	I took part in a roundtable with a mixed audience of researchers, business people, judiciary and local government officials where I spoke about the Bribery Act 2010 and anti-corruption measures. Other participants included Professor Vadim Volkov, Director of the Institute for Rule of Law, St Petersburg European University; Igor Strelov. Chair of the North West Russia Commercial Court; and the hon. Mr Justice David Steel.
	I met Anton Ivanov, President of the Russian Supreme Commercial Court, to discuss legal sector regulation and its impact on attracting foreign business and the benefits of continuing judicial exchanges through the Slynn Foundation. I also met Valery Zorkin, Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court to discuss the judicial reform agenda in Russia; Russia's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights; and human rights more generally.
	I was accompanied on this visit by my Parliamentary Private Secretary the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace).

Victim Support Schemes

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to ensure that the arrangements for commissioning victims' services by police and crime commissioners (a) costs no more than the current system and (b) does not result in a lower quality of service’
	(2)  if he will consider ring-fencing the funding available for victims' services following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners;
	(3)  what arrangements he plans to put in place to inspect victims' services following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners;
	(4)  what minimum standards he proposes will apply to services for victims of crime following the transfer of commissioning arrangements to police and crime commissioners; and what steps he plans to take where such minimum standards are not met.

Crispin Blunt: Our consultation, ‘Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses’ closed on 22 April. We are considering the responses to the consultation, which in relation to our commissioning proposals included views on quality, ring-fencing, minimum standards and administrative costs. We will publish the Government response soon.

Victim Support Schemes

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to place the Victims' Code on a statutory footing.

Crispin Blunt: A key proposal in our consultation document 'Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses', published on 30 January, is that there should be a new, clearer, Victims' Code and we sought views on a set of principles on which we think a new code should be based. The consultation closed on 22 April and we plan to publish the Government's response to the consultation in the summer.
	There is already a statutory basis for the Victims' Code. It is made under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.

Rio+20 Conference

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the draft outcomes document for the Rio+20 conference in June 2012.

Andrew Mitchell: The draft outcomes document includes positive statements on green growth and sustainable development, but is unwieldy. The Department for International Development will continue to work hard alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in negotiations on the outcome document to be agreed at Rio+20.

Arab Partnership Fund

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent progress has been made by the Arab partnership fund.

Andrew Mitchell: The Arab Partnership Fund, under Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development control, continues to make significant progress.

Procurement Policy

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's policy is on the procurement of goods and services from the UK for the purposes of foreign aid.

Stephen O'Brien: The International Development Act 2002 requires aid to be untied, and EU Public Procurement directives mandate EU-wide competition. However, I'm happy to confirm that in 2010-11, 92% of centrally let DFID contracts were let to UK registered companies after open competition.

Big Lottery Fund

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on what dates he has met the Chair of the Big Lottery Fund since May 2010; what issues were discussed at each meeting; if he will publish the minutes and agenda of the meetings; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: I met with Peter Ainsworth on 13 June 2011, 13 October 2011 and 16 January 2012 to discuss a range of issues relating to the Big Lottery Fund.

Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of government contracts were awarded to (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized businesses in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Francis Maude: This Government has an aspiration that 25% of its buying should go to SMEs by 2015.
	A Progress Report on central Government business with SMEs was published on 9 March 2012 and is available on the Cabinet Office website at:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/making-government-business-more-accessible-smes-one-year
	While data are not held on the exact proportion of contracts awarded to micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The proportion of direct Government spend with SMEs was 6.5% in 2009-10 and reached 13.7% by the end of the 2011-12 financial year.

Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what measures his Department introduced to reduce the carbon emissions of 10 Downing street in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012;
	(2)  what the total level of carbon emissions was of 10 Downing street between (a) 1 April 2010 and 1 April 2011 and (b) 2 April 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Francis Maude: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	The Government is fully committed to the Greening Government Commitment (GCC). The Cabinet Office has already reduced carbon emissions by 25.7% as at the third quarter of 2011-12 when compared with the 2009-10 baseline. A number of measures have been taken to achieve this, including increased thermal insulation and the introduction of intelligent lighting systems.
	As part of the GGC, the Cabinet Office publishes its performance on a quarterly basis. The performance for Q4 in 2011-12 will be published shortly at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-greening-government-performance

Israel

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he has taken to ensure that the Government does not procure goods, produce or services from illegal Israeli settlements.

Francis Maude: The UK opposes boycotts which we think are counter-productive.
	The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 sets out the procedures to be followed by public authorities when they wish to procure goods, works and services. These include mechanisms by which a company may be excluded from a tender exercise, for example where a company has been convicted of a criminal offence in connection with their business or profession, or has committed an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of their business or profession.

Public Expenditure

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish a statement of his Department's expenditure in each of the last 36 months; and what steps his Department takes to avoid an annual underspend.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office publishes a full set of accounts every year, audited by the National Audit Office. Copies of the accounts for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are available at the following links:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1011/hc02/0282/0282.asp
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1012/hc09/0999/0999.asp
	The Cabinet Office accounts for 2011-12 are still being audited.
	As part of my Department's transparency programme, detailed expenditure information, including all transactions over £25,000 and payments made by GPC card over £500, can be found at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cabinet-office-spend-data
	The Cabinet Office reviews its expenditure and forecasts on a regular basis, taking particular care not to overspend against its agreed budget.
	My Department does not spend simply to avoid an underspend. If during the year the reviews of expenditure and forecast indicated an overall underspend, we would discuss the possibility of utilising the Budget Exchange mechanism with HM Treasury at the earliest opportunity.

ERASMUS

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which UK institutions have taken part in the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus External Co-operation Window.

David Willetts: Following the incorporation of the External Co-operation Window into the second phase of Erasmus Mundus (2009-13) as Action 2, Strand 1, the following UK Higher Institutions have been awarded funding to participate in the programme:
	2011
	The City University
	University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
	The university of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	The university of Glasgow
	University of Glamorgan
	The university of Westminster
	University College London
	The university of Leeds
	Bournemouth University
	The university of Kent
	2010
	University of Wales Institute, Cardiff
	The City University
	Swansea Metropolitan university
	Oxford Brookes university
	University College London
	Staffordshire University
	University of the West of England, Bristol
	Prior to the second phase of Erasmus Mundus, the following UK Higher Education institutions participated in the External Cooperation Window:
	2009
	The university of Westminster
	The university of Southampton
	The university of Kent
	University College London
	The university of Bath
	The university of Cambridge
	2008
	Cardiff University
	The university of Westminster
	The university of Brighton
	The university of Southampton
	The university of York
	The university of Manchester
	Staffordshire University
	The university of Bradford
	The university of Cambridge
	2007
	The university of Southampton

Manufacturing Industries

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the report, Manufacturing the Future, by BDO LLP; and whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the report relating to (a) the establishment of an industrial bank, (b) working with the Department for Education to ensure the education system develops the skills needed for manufacturing and engineering, (c) more patriotism in the awarding of Government contracts and (d) greater innovation by his Department in providing funding support for the manufacturing and engineering sector.

Mark Prisk: We are grateful to BDO LLP for their contribution to the debate on how we grow manufacturing in the UK. The Government fully recognises the importance of manufacturing, its vital contribution to the growth of a more sustainable UK economy and its key role in rebalancing the economy, which is why it remains central to the Strategy for Growth. In respect of the specific areas highlighted by the hon. Member, the Government is acting as follows:
	(a) Ensuring that businesses are able to access the credit they need to start and grow is a Government priority. Discussion about an industrial bank is not new. It is right that Government actively considers all of the available options to support the economic recovery.
	(b) BIS works closely with the Department for Education to ensure Government policies to attract students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects throughout their educational careers are coherent. BIS's partnership with the Department for Education (DFE) also looks to ensure that the education system delivers the skills needed by the manufacturing and engineering sectors. For example at a meeting on 8 May chaired by the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), industry and awarding organisations agreed their involvement in the development of new qualifications which will reflect the quality and attractiveness of the Engineering Diploma and Principal Learning in Engineering, while recognising the learning time involved in delivering this.
	(c) On procurement, the Government has a responsibility to purchase high quality goods and services which offer value for money for the UK taxpayer. But we also want to do this in a way that supports UK-based business in key growth areas. We believe the current framework is well suited to help us do that.
	In November, we announced that we would take a new approach to procurement that takes greater consideration of its impact on UK-based businesses. We published a forward programme of work across a number of sectors, updated with an additional £70 billion in April, and we will continue to expand upon this. This will provide greater certainty to industry. But we will also use this information to develop sector strategies in partnership with industry, to strengthen supply chains in the UK.
	We want the public sector to be a responsible customer and develop a collaborative long-term relationship with our supply chain. This can help businesses plan for and develop the long-term capabilities the UK needs.
	Further information can be found at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/70-billion-potential-government-business-published-boost-uk-growth
	(d) The best ways in which the can Government support the manufacturing and engineering sectors is at the heart of a range of ongoing discussions between Government and industry which inform all our activity. We have already hosted two manufacturing summits, and through joint industry/government councils and other forums, we are developing strategies in key sectors, including Automotive, Aerospace and Maritime.
	In the Budget we were able to respond to some of the issues raised in these discussions with:
	An ambition to increase exports from £488 billion in 2011 to £1 trillion by 2020 as part of the National Export Challenge;
	Investment of £60 million to establish a UK centre for aerodynamics to open in 2012-13 to support innovation in aerospace technology and commercialise new ideas;
	Funding of £100 million to support investment in major new university research facilities, bids in 2012-13 with co-investment from the private sector;
	The final two Catapult Centres, in Transport Systems and Future Cities;
	A cut in corporation tax of an additional 1% this year so that it falls to 22% by 2014, meaning the UK's main rate will the lowest in the G7 and the 4th lowest in the G20;
	The Patent Box, which will be introduced from April 2013, will give a reduced rate of 10% corporation tax on profits from patents and certain other similar types of intellectual property.
	It is vital that we rebuild manufacturing supply chains. We have already committed £7 million for supply chain activity to the Manufacturing Advisory Service,:
	www.mymas.org
	which was relaunched in January. And following the second manufacturing summit in February we launched the £125 million Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, which will be used to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains by supporting innovative projects where the UK is well placed to take a global lead. The competition has two funding streams with deadlines for applications falling in June and September. More details can be found on the Technology Strategy Board website:
	http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/advanced-manufacturing-supply-chain-initiative.ashx
	At the manufacturing summit in February, we announced an additional £1 billion for a further round of the Regional Growth Fund—taking the fund total to £2.4 billion. Manufacturing is one of the biggest winners so far, and was allocated around £420 million in the first two rounds. More information can be found at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/rgf
	The closing date for applications is 13 June.

North Africa and Middle East

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of renewable energy and recycling in the Middle East and North Africa.

Mark Prisk: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Energy and Climate Change lead the Government's international efforts to promote sustainable economic growth around the world, including secure and affordable energy, resource efficiency and low carbon solutions.
	UK Trade & Investment supports this work by promoting UK capability in the renewable and environment sectors. Current initiatives include a visit to the UK for the All-Energy Exhibition and Conference, the UK's largest renewable energy event, by UKTI commercial officers from north Africa and the middle east; a visit by UK companies to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia focusing on solar and onshore wind generation; and we shall use the British Business Embassy at Lancaster House during the Olympics to showcase UK capabilities in renewable energy and recycling to a global audience, including senior public and private sector decision makers from the middle east and north Africa.

Patents: EU Action

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made on the UK's bid to host the European Patent Court; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Government wants to see a Europe-wide patent system that brings real benefits for innovative businesses, consumers and the economy. Negotiations on the whole package of European patent reform, including the unitary patent and unified patent court, are still ongoing. The location of the central division of the unified patent court is an important issue which is still being discussed. It is also important that we get the details of how the court will work right.
	The Government has made a strong case for the UK to host the seat of the central division of the patent court. This was set out in the letter the Minister for Intellectual Property sent to the Polish Government, who were then coordinating the negotiations, in December 2011.
	The Danish Government, who are currently coordinating the negotiations, are trying to agree a deal on the patent court by June this year. We are an active and positive participant in those ongoing discussions and remain strongly committed to locating the central division of the unified patent court in the UK. We are also determined that the details of the proposals deliver the most effective arrangements for UK business and their representatives who will use the court.

Retail Trade: Newspaper Press

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to support small retailers and newsagents following the 2009 Office of Fair Trading decision not to refer the newspaper and magazine distribution sector to the Competition Commission.

Norman Lamb: The Office of Fair Trading is the UK's competition and consumer protection authority, with responsibilities covering the whole economy.
	The Government is actively working to help all retailers. Retail is vitally important to local and national economies. This was why it was chosen to be one of the first sectors to undergo the growth review process, and was the first sector to undergo the Red Tape Challenge. These initiatives identified a number of barriers to successful retail performance and growth, which the Government is working to address.
	Through the growth review the Government has committed to extending small business rate relief and announced that 160 regulations impacting on retailers or their customers will be scrapped or simplified. We are also conducting a review of employment law.
	In March, the Government's formal response to the recommendations made by Mary Portas in her report, “An Independent Review into the Future of our High Streets”, was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government
	The report contained 28 recommendations, raising a number of important issues affecting today's high streets and provided some useful and interesting ways in which Government, local authorities, business and the public can begin to address them.
	Department for Communities and Local Government took immediate action in implementing some of the recommendations, including on high street pilots.
	BIS lead on three recommendations, de-regulation/Red Tape Challenge, Mentoring and Company Reporting.
	Retailers are also able to benefit from the same range of support offered by BIS to help small and medium businesses to start and thrive through:
	Improved access to finance.
	A more positive business environment which supports growth and ease of starting a business, and where new businesses and economic opportunities are more evenly shared between regions and industries.
	A major programme to reform the way that people running a business get the information, guidance and support they need to start and grow a business.
	Building a more entrepreneurial culture, equipping people with the skills and ambition to start a business.

Retail Trade: Newspaper Press

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings he has had to discuss competition issues in the newspaper and magazine supply chain with representatives from (a) newspaper and magazine publishers, (b) newspaper wholesalers and (c) newspaper and magazine retailers representatives.

Norman Lamb: Issues relating to competition in the newspaper and magazine sector is a matter for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. As such I have not met with representatives of the industry to discuss competition issues.
	A quarterly-updated list of all BIS ministerial meetings with external organisations is also available at:
	http://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/disclosure-ministerial-hospitality-received-department-for-business